The medical device industry produces a wide variety of electronic and mechanical devices for treating patient medical conditions. Depending upon medical condition, medical devices can be surgically implanted or connected externally to the patient receiving treatment. Clinicians use medical devices alone or in combination with drug therapies and surgery to treat patient medical conditions. For some medical conditions, medical devices provide the best, and sometimes the only, therapy to restore an individual to a more healthful condition and a fuller life. Examples of implantable medical devices include neuro stimulators, drug delivery pumps, pacemakers, defibrillators, diagnostic recorders, and cochlear implants. Some implantable medical devices provide therapies with significant power demands. To reduce the size of the power source and to extend the life of the power source, some of these implantable devices can be recharged while implanted with a transcutaneous recharge signal produced by a primary coil.
Implantable medical devices configured for recharging are typically configured with either the recharging coil internal to the medical device housing, external to the housing, or remotely located away from the housing. However the medical device recharging coil is configured, it is desirable to improve recharging efficiency for benefits such as decreased recharging time and decreased medical device temperature rise while recharging.
For the foregoing reasons there is a need for a rechargeable implantable medical device with improved recharging efficiency.